School system opens new administrative building

Social Circle City Schools dedicated the newly built administrative office building on Alcova Drive Tuesday, ushering in a new wave of building and expansion for the growing school system.

In a ceremony attended by more than 100 people, remarks were made by Superintendent Bettye Ray, Hal Dally, chairman of the Social Circle City Schools Board of Education and chair of the subcommittee for the administrative building, and Tim Lemmonds, vice chairman of the SCBOE. State Senator John Douglas (R-Social Circle) presented the state flag, and the Social Circle High School JROTC color guard and band participated in the ceremonies as well.

In addition to bringing together administrative and support personnel under one roof, the $1.5 million, 13,000-square-foot building provides a central hub for many functions of the school system, including the IT system, training and conference rooms with the latest in audio-visual technology for teachers and school personnel and warehouse storage. The administration was previously housed next to the primary school.

"We’re very pleased with the completed building," said Hal Dally, chairman of the Social Circle City Schools Board of Education and chair of the subcommittee for the administrative building. "They needed that kind of space to put all the support people and administrators together so they could better coordinate their efforts."

Dally explained that the completion of the project, which the board began planning for several years ago, cleared the way for additional expansions and reconfigurations. The next big project on the horizon is the first phase of the new athletic complex with a football/soccer/track facility and additional parking. A new elementary school campus is also slated to be built by around 2012, and the present elementary school building will eventually house the middle school. The high school will expand and take over both wings of the current high school/middle school building.